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<P class="title">WinRAR.ini file<hr></P>

<P>By default WinRAR stores settings in Registry. Such approach is reasonable
when WinRAR is installed and used on the same single computer.
But if you plan to install WinRAR on removable media, such as USB flash
drive, and then run it on different computers occasionally, you may prefer
to avoid storing any WinRAR specific data in Registry on those computers.</P>

<P>It is possible to redirect WinRAR Registry access to text file.
If you create an empty WinRAR.ini file either in the same folder
as WinRAR.exe or in <a href="HELPAppData.htm">%APPDATA%\WinRAR</a> folder,
WinRAR will redirect access to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\WinRAR
and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WinRAR Registry keys to this file.
WinRAR searches for this file first in its own folder and next in
%APPDATA%\WinRAR.</P>

<p>Use "Create WinRAR.ini file" command in "Import and export" submenu to
create a new WinRAR.ini file and copy existing WinRAR settings from Registry
to this file. You need to copy a file created with this command either to
WinRAR own folder or to %APPDATA%\WinRAR to make it active.</p>

<p>Typically current settings are written to WinRAR.ini only on exit,
until that they are stored in memory. They are saved as case sensitive
UTF-16LE text strings in following format:<br><br>
&lt;root key&gt;\&lt;key name&gt;=value<br><br>

where &lt;root key&gt; can be HKCU for HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKLM for
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and Global for global settings added by user manually.
String values are enclosed in quote marks and byte arrays have "bin:" prefix.
</p>

<p>You can change global settings to control WinRAR.ini behavior.
If write access to WinRAR.ini is not disabled, WinRAR creates strings
listed below automatically and you need to edit a parameter after "="
to change an option. These strings are created at the top of WinRAR.ini.
If you are going to disable write access with read-only attribute,
you may need to add an appropriate string to WinRAR.ini manually
before setting the read-only attribute, one command per line.
All these strings use UTF-16LE encoding and are case sensitive,
enter them exactly as mentioned here. Following global settings
are available:</p>

<br><p><b><i>Global\AppData=0</i></b></p>
<p>Prohibit WinRAR to access APPDATA%\WinRAR folder. All files normally
stored in this folder, such as registration key or interface themes,
should be stored in the same folder as WinRAR.exe if Global\AppData=0
is specified. Specify Global\AppData=1 to allow access to APPDATA%\WinRAR.</p>

<br><p><b><i>Global\Integration=0</i></b></p>
<p>While WinRAR redirects its branches of HKEY_CURRENT_USER
and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Registry keys to WinRAR.ini, it still writes
data to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and other parts of Registry required
to properly set the shell extension and file associations. For example,
it happens when using <A HREF="HELPIntegrationSettings.htm">Integration
settings</A> dialog. If you wish to prohibit all write and most of read
operations with Registry, add Global\Integration=0 to WinRAR.ini.
WinRAR will not be able to change system integration settings after that.
This command also prohibits creating or deleting WinRAR shortcut on Desktop
and WinRAR program group. Specify Global\Integration=1 to allow the system
integration.</p>

<br><p><b><i>Global\SaveSettings=0</i></b></p>
<p>Disable writing current settings back to WinRAR.ini, so any configuration
changes made in current WinRAR copy will be lost on exit. You can achieve
the same result by setting read-only attribute to WinRAR.ini file.
It is reasonable to configure WinRAR as you wish first, close WinRAR to
store settings to file and only then add Global\SaveSettings=0 command.
This mode may also affect other WinRAR components relying on WinRAR.ini,
such as the shell extension not seeing changes in <a href="HELPContextItems.htm">
Context menu items</a> dialog. Specify Global\SaveSettings=1 to allow saving
settings to WinRAR.ini.
</p>

<br>
<h1><B>Notes</B></h1>

<ul>
  <li>Unlike other Registry variables, <a href="HELPRegVar.htm#AppData">
    "AppData" variable</a> is not redirected to WinRAR.ini and always
    read from Registry. This variable defines location of 
    <a href="HELPAppData.htm">%APPDATA%\WinRAR</a> folder and since
    WinRAR.ini can be stored in this folder, we need to know a value
    of this variable before accessing WinRAR.ini.</li>
  <li>If winrar.ini is present in the same folder as WinRAR installer
    .exe file and its earlier version is not available, winrar.ini will be
    copied to proper WinRAR folder after completing installation.</li>
</ul>

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